An interconnection fabric is a set of communication lines and intermediate nodes between a given set of source nodes to a given set of terminal nodes, such as storage devices. Interconnection fabrics can be implemented as storage area networks. A storage area network (SAN) is a high-speed special-purpose network or sub network that interconnects data storage devices with associated data servers on behalf of a larger network of users. Typically, a storage area network is part of the overall network of computing resources for an enterprise. The SAN includes the interconnection fabric and the source and terminal nodes, as well as links from source and terminal nodes to the fabric. Targets may act as sources, and sources may act as targets in some SANs.
The interconnection fabric typically comprises switches and hubs, and links between the switches and hubs. Data flows through the interconnection fabric between the source nodes and terminal nodes. There may be predetermined flow requirements between such nodes that the interconnection fabric should be capable of handling. There is a desire to determine how to connect the source nodes and terminal nodes to the interconnection fabric in a manner that handles such flow requirements in a desired manner.